Multidisciplinary studies in management and development programs in the public sector Semiannual report, 1 Jan. - 30 Jun. 1970

Multidisciplinary studies in programs in the public sector, including project management, NASA technology transfer, national decision making, and space regulation

Towards harmonic extensions of pulsed melodic affective processing - further musical structures for increasing transparency in emotional computation

Pulsed Melodic Affective Processing (PMAP) is a method for the processing of artificial emotions in affective computing. PMAP is a data stream which can be listened to, as well as computed with. The affective state is represented by numbers which are analogues of musical features, rather than by a binary stream. Previous affective computation has been done with emotion category indices, or real numbers representing positivity of emotion, etc. PMAP data can be generated directly by sound and rhythms (e.g. heart rates or key-press speeds) and turned directly into into music with minimal transformation. This is because PMAP data is music and computations done with PMAP data are computations done with music. Why is this important? Because PMAP is constructed so that the emotion which its data represents at the computational level, will be similar to the emotion which a person "listening" to the PMAP melody hears. So PMAP can be used to calculate "feelings" and the result data will "sound like" the feelings calculated. Harmonic PMAP (PMAPh) is an extension of PMAP allowing harmonies to be used in calculations © 2014 Old City Publishing, Inc

A Modern Syllogistic Method in Intuitionistic Fuzzy Logic with Realistic Tautology

The Modern Syllogistic Method (MSM) of propositional logic ferrets out from a set of premises all that can be concluded from it in the most compact form. The MSM combines the premises into a single function equated to 1 and then produces the complete product of this function. Two fuzzy versions of MSM are developed in Ordinary Fuzzy Logic (OFL) and in Intuitionistic Fuzzy Logic (IFL) with these logics augmented by the concept of Realistic Fuzzy Tautology (RFT) which is a variable whose truth exceeds 0.5. The paper formally proves each of the steps needed in the conversion of the ordinary MSM into a fuzzy one. The proofs rely mainly on the successful replacement of logic 1 (or ordinary tautology) by an RFT. An improved version of Blake-Tison algorithm for generating the complete product of a logical function is also presented and shown to be applicable to both crisp and fuzzy versions of the MSM. The fuzzy MSM methodology is illustrated by three specific examples, which delineate differences with the crisp MSM, address the question of validity values of consequences, tackle the problem of inconsistency when it arises, and demonstrate the utility of the concept of Realistic Fuzzy Tautology

Pulsed Melodic Affective Processing: Musical structures for increasing transparency in emotional computation

Pulsed Melodic Affective Processing (PMAP) is a method for the processing of artificial emotions in affective computing. PMAP is a data stream designed to be listened to, as well as computed with. The affective state is represented by numbers that are analogues of musical features, rather than by a binary stream. Previous affective computation has been done with emotion category indices, or real numbers representing various emotional dimensions. PMAP data can be generated directly by sound (e.g. heart rates or key-press speeds) and turned directly into music with minimal transformation. This is because PMAP data is music and computations done with PMAP data are computations done with music. This is important because PMAP is constructed so that the emotion that its data represents at the computational level will be similar to the emotion that a person “listening” to the PMAP melody hears. Thus, PMAP can be used to calculate “feelings” and the result data will “sound like” the feelings calculated. PMAP can be compared to neural spike streams, but ones in which pulse heights and rates encode affective information. This paper illustrates PMAP in a range of simulations. In a multi-agent simulation, initial results support that an affective multi-robot security system could use PMAP to provide a basic control mechanism for “search-and-destroy”. Results of fitting a musical neural network with gradient descent to help solve a text emotional detection problem are also presented. The paper concludes by discussing how PMAP may be applicable in the stock markets, using a simplified order book simulation. © 2014, The Society for Modeling and Simulation International. All rights reserved

High-precision mass measurements in the realm of the deformed shell closure N=152

The nuclear masses reflect the sum of all interactions inside a nucleus. Their precise knowledge can be used to benchmark nuclear mass models and to gain nuclear structure information. Penning-trap mass spectrometers have proven their potential to obtain lowest uncertainties. Uniquely located at a nuclear reactor, the double Penning-trap mass spectrometer TRIGA-TRAP is dedicated to measurements in the neutron-rich region. For a gain in sensitivity a non-destructive detection system for single ion mass measurements was adopted. This includes the implementation of a narrow band-pass filter tuned to the heavy ion cyclotron frequency as well as a cryogenic low-noise amplifier. For on-line mass measurements, the laser ablation ion source was equipped with a newly developed miniature radiofrequency quadrupole trap in order to improve the extraction efficiency. A more economic use of the radioactive material enabled mass measurements using only 10^15 atoms of target material. New mass measurements were performed within this work in the realm of the deformed shell closure N=152. Their implementation into the atomic-mass evaluation improved the uncertainty of more than 80 nuclides in the heavy mass region and simultaneously shifted the absolute mass of two alpha- decay chains

High-precision Q-value and mass measurements for neutrino physics with TRIGA-TRAP and commissioning of an on-line ion source for TRIGA-SPEC

Der Nachweis des neutrinolosen doppelten Elektroneneinfangs kann zum Beweis des Majoranacharakters von Neutrinos verwendet werden. Übergänge mit einer Energieentartung zwischen dem Anfangs- und dem Endzustand weisen eine resonante Verstärkung der Zerfallsrate auf, so dass diese besonders für Experimente in der Neutrinophysik geeignet sind. Um solche resonanten Übergänge zu identifizieren, spielen genaue Q-Wert-Messungen mit Penningfallen-Massenspektrometern eine wichtige Rolle. In dieser Arbeit wurde die Resonanzbedingung des neutrinolosen doppelten Elektroneneinfangs in den Nukliden Cd-106, Cd-108, und Os-184 durch Q-Wert-Messungen mit dem Penningfallen-Massenspektrometer TRIGA-TRAP untersucht. Zusätzlich wurde der Q-Wert des doppelten Beta-Zerfalls in Pd-110 bestimmt. Desweiteren wurde eine Hochspannungsplattform und eine on-line Ionenquelle für die Ionisation von kurzlebigen neutronenreichen Spaltprodukten für das TRIGA-SPEC-Experiment am Forschungsreaktor TRIGA Mainz aufgebaut und erfolgreich in Betrieb genommen. Mit diesem Aufbau soll ein radioaktiver Ionenstrahl für hochpräzise Massenmessungen und kollineare Laserspektroskopie zur Verfügung gestellt werden. Die Spaltprodukte werden an Aerosole gebunden, um sie mit Hilfe eines Gasjet-Transportsystems vom Reaktor in die Ionenquelle zu transportieren. Dies stellt besondere Anforderungen an die Ionenquelle dar, da sie unter einer hohen Gaslast arbeiten und die Bindung zwischen Aerosolteilchen und Spaltprodukt aufbrechen muss. Es wurde untersucht, ob eine 2.45 GHz EZR-Ionenquelle für diesen Zweck geeignet ist

DEVELOPMENT OF AN INTEGRATED RISK MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK FOR OIL AND GAS PIPELINE PROJECTS

Introduction- Oil and Gas Pipelines (OGPs) are a safe and economical mode of transportation of petroleum products around the world. However, they face different types of challenging Risk Factors (RFs) that affect the safety of the OGP projects at planning, construction and operational stages. Moreover, the OGP projects often suffer from the risks associated with Third-Party Disruption (TPD) such as terrorism and sabotage attacks, which make the pipelines vulnerable and add complexity in managing the RFs and safety threats to OGPs in developing countries with low levels of security. Problem - After an in-depth review of the literature about the existing risk management approaches in OGP projects, it was found that these approaches have the following limitations. (I) Most are designed at the local scale and focus on certain types of RFs, so they are not applicable in OGP projects elsewhere. (II) They are not effective in mitigating the RFs in OGP projects when the data and records about them are scarce particularly in developing countries, where the documentation is poor. (III) Building new pipelines without analysing the potential level of risk in the potential routes at the planning stage could result in vital safety consequences in the future with supply chain disruption and loss of big investment. (IV) There is a lack of awareness about the potential impact on project delivery when developing new OGP projects without a an appropriate analysis of the RFs. The literature review concludes that there is a need for a logical and integrated risk assessment approach for the RFs relevant to OGP projects, specifically, the safety RFs relevant to TPD because they have not been accurately analysed in the past. Moreover, these approaches are mainly focusing on managing the associated RFs at the operational stage of OGP projects. However, managing the RFs during the entire project’s life makes risk management more comprehensive and effective. Finally, the literature revealed that there is a lack of effective Risk Mitigation Method (RMM) suggestions to mitigate the RFs in OGP projects because the RMMs have not been analysed with regard to their degree of effectiveness in past projects. Aim and Objectives- This study aims to design an integrated Risk Management Framework (RMF) for OGP projects. The objectives are (I) identity, analyse and rank the RFs in OGP projects; (II) select safest pipeline routes/alignments for the new projects; (III) identify and recommend the effective RMMs in the projects; and (IV) quantify the impact of the recorded RFs on a project’s duration and forecast the probability of the project’s delivery on time. Originality- The novel idea in this research is to develop an RMF which enables users to deal with all the types of RFs in the projects on one platform. The RMF will contribute in providing a wide range of knowledge about the RFs and RMMs in OGP projects. And also, it will enhance the reliability of the results of RFs analysis by analysing them based on the findings of the literature review and the results of an industrial survey, the application of fuzzy theory and Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS). Method- A mixed approach was used to collect and analyse the research data for the design of an integrated RMF using the following steps (I) A comprehensive literature review, an industrial survey and the fuzzy logic theory integrated within MATLAB software were used to identify and analyse the critical RFs and RMMs in OGP projects. (II) A risk optimisation method was used to select the safest route/alignment for a new project based on risk levels in the potential routes/alignments. (III) The findings from the survey were used to identify and recommend the effective RMMs to mitigate the potential RFs in the projects. (IV) MCS integrated within ASTA and @Risk programs were used to analyse and quantify the delay impact of the RFs in OGP projects. Results- The study recognised 30 common RFs and 12 RMMs in OGP projects based on the literature review. The survey results revealed that TPD RFs such as terrorism, sabotage and theft are the most critical RFs in OGPs particularly in Iraq, whereas anti-corrosion measures, laying the pipes underground, and advanced monitoring system of the RFs are the most effective RMMs. The developed RMF was used to optimise the risk level in the routes suggested to build a new pipeline project in the south of Iraq. It was found that route number 4 (from Badra field to Basra via, Bazirgan, Gharraf–An Nassiriyah and Zubair) is the safest route for this OGP project. In addition, the average project delay caused by the associated RFs within the project was found to be 15-18 days when using ASTA risk simulator but 45 days when using @Risk Simulator. Contribution and Value- This study is the first research related to making a comprehensive study for the OGP projects in Iraq to develop an integrated RMF. It was concluded that the developed RMF is a useful risk assessment tool that could be used by the stakeholders and academics for understanding, identifying and ranking the RFs in OGP projects, selecting the safest pipeline routes/alignments for the new projects, and quantifying the delay impact caused by RFs in OGP projects